


A Vintage Gramophone Kind of Sound

by Bittie752



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Dancing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 02:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2211984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittie752/pseuds/Bittie752
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>William Darcy preferred the sounds of a gramophone.  It made him remember happier times and dream of dancing with Lizzie Bennet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Vintage Gramophone Kind of Sound

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Pride and Prejudice or The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Unbeated so all mistakes are my own.

 

William Darcy had once told Lizzie Bennet that he preferred the sound of a vintage gramophone to that of newer speakers.  At the time she had rolled her eyes thinking that he was nothing more than a stuck up hipster that wanted to patronize her every chance he got.  In reality, Darcy was trying to let her in on one of his most cherished childhood memories.

 

There was a small room off the main corridor of the Darcy estate that was by far William’s favorite. As opposed to the other rooms of their home this room was sparsely furnished, hardwood floors, a glass chandelier imported from Italy and a wooden cased gramophone in the corner complete with his grandfather’s collection of 45’s.  Yet it was by far young William’s favorite room of the house.

This is the room where he’d catch his mother and father dancing together almost every night.  It was room where his mother had taught him to waltz so that he could sweep some young woman off her feet. It was the room where Gigi would stand on her father’s patent leather shoes and giggle as he twirled her around the floor.

It was a room that he had locked shut the day his parents died and hadn’t opened since.  At least not until his first trip home from Netherfield.

 

His hands had shaken as he turned the key in the lock.  The room was musty from lack of use but it looked exactly the same as he remembered it.  The smallest flicker of a smile had crossed his face as he remembered the happy times spent in this room and as he dreamed of times to come.  His first dance with Lizzie had been a disaster because he had been so nervous, so awkward.  Their second dance at Bing’s birthday party had gone better.  Their conversation had still been… stilted but in the end at least the waltz that they had shared had been more than enjoyable.

~

The entire time he was at Collins & Collins, he’d dreamed of being able to dance with her in that room. Unfortunately, he had been blindsided when things had gone horribly wrong.  Before his declaration of love to Lizzie, he had prided himself on being able to read people. And while he had known that he could be socially awkward, he’d had no idea the extent to which he had ostracized him from Lizzie’s good graces.

 

It was early November when Gigi had caught him locking the room back up.  Neither her or her brother actually lived at their child hood home; she’d just been on the estate using the courts for her tennis. She asked him about why he’d been in the room but he was evasive. She hadn’t given her older brother an inch when he tried to deflect her.  “What’s her name?” Gigi asked finally.

“How do you know this is about a woman?” he asked stiffly.

“Because dear brother,” Gigi said as she linked her arm with his.  “I’ve seen you upset because of work, Aunt Catherine, your friends and because of me and this, this is different, so spill.”  And he told her all about Lizzie.

~

The door to the gramophone room remained locked through Christmas and into the New Year. William had tried to put that room and her completely out of his mind. And he had succeeded, mostly.  All of that fell apart when Gigi shoved him directly into the path of the one woman that he wanted to avoid at all costs and yet, at the same time, he just wanted to be near her.  Elizabeth Bennet was a force of nature and he wanted to get caught up in her wake.

 

Things had been progressing nicely during Lizzie’s shadowing.  So much so, that he was beginning to feel hope again.  Slowly, he had been winning her over.  He’d gotten her to laugh with him instead of at him and now she smiled when she looked his way. Now if only he could get up the courage to ask to take her dancing.

 

While he and Gigi had been taking Lizzie on an enjoyable tour of San Francisco, his beloved sister had had a portable gramophone delivered to the town house that he most commonly resided in.  The box had held contained a note.

_Thought you might need this to help you sweep her off her feet._

After he had carefully setting the music player in the living room, he’d pulled at his lap top and started planning.  Booked theater box seats and dinner reservation later, William Darcy finally felt ready to ask Lizzie Bennet on a proper date.

 

Once again luck had not been on his side.  Not only had he not been able to spend an evening alone with someone special to him but it would be nearly two months until he saw her again.  He was afraid that his dreams had been dashed, that they had missed their chance.  At least until he saw the video of Charlotte ambushing Lizzie and then _the_ phone call.

~

Two days after her birthday, William and Lizzie shared their third dance. They fit together perfectly. She let him lead and even though the waltz required a firm posture, William felt more relaxed than he had in years.

“You are just full of surprises,” Lizzie sighed as she put her head on his shoulder after the music ended. “And you are a remarkable dancer.”

“And you are simply remarkable,” he’d replied before leaning in to kiss her.

~

Six weeks later, after Lizzie had graduated and moved to San Francisco permanently, the room to the gramophone room was opened once and for all.  William had taken her on a tour of his childhood home, regaling her with stories of his happiest memories of growing up.

“This room is my favorite,” he explained pushing open the door and gently guiding her inside.

Lizzie blew out a breath and grinned.  This hadn’t been what she was expecting.  She wasn’t entirely sure what she had expected William Darcy’s Fortress of Solitude but it wasn’t this.  Music began to fill the air.  The sound was beautiful, raw and the needle moving across the vinyl exposed every imperfection in the record.  She loved it.

She turned to tell him that she hoped he never stopped surprising but just smiled when she saw him standing with his hand extended to her.

“Miss Bennet, will you do me the honor of dancing with me?” 

He kept his eyes locked on hers and she her heart skipped a beat. Lizzie could imagine coming into this room after dinner every night and enjoying the simple pleasures of a dance. She could see herself hearing the strains of music filling the air in the middle of the night and finding him in here rocking their baby back to sleep. And she could picture William, fifty years from now grey haired and wrinkled still asking her to dance.  It was everything she had never known she’d wanted.

Gently she slipped her hand into his the corners of his mouth turned upwards into a smile.

“Always, Mr. Darcy always.” 

 


End file.
